PEN/Benenson Courage Award
The PEN/Benenson Courage Award honors exceptional acts of courage in the exercise of freedom of expression. The honoree is chosen for their remarkable willingness to face adversity, risk, and personal sacrifice to defend this fundamental human right. Their actions have served as an inspiration, not only for their commitment to free expression but also for their profound impact on advancing human rights and democracy. This individual embodies the very essence of courage, showing that the power of words and ideas can transcend obstacles, ignite change, and inspire others to stand up for their beliefs.
Honorees
Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ “Shaye” Moss, 2024
Fulton County, Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss successfully sued to vindicate their reputations after being vilified and falsely accused of election-related malfeasance in 2020. Their lives were upended in 2020 by relentless threats ignited by President Trump and his allies, who falsely accused the women of pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase.
Salman Rushdie, 2023
PEN America honored author Salman Rushdie, its former president, with the 2023 Courage Award. Rushdie accepted the PEN Centenary Courage Award in person, his first public appearance since he was severely wounded in a knife attack nine months prior. Rushdie, speaking to 700 guests at the American Museum of Natural History, said PEN America and its mission to protect free expression was never “more important” in a time of book bans and censorship and issued a call to action: “Terrorism must not terrorize us. Violence must not deter us. La lutte continue. La lutta continua. The struggle goes on.”
Jack Petocz, 2022
Florida high school activist Jack Petocz was honored for organizing a statewide student walkout to protest HB 1557 (the Parental Rights in Education, or “Don’t Say Gay,” bill), which helped catalyze a groundswell of protest at schools and beyond against the legislation that prohibits discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom. Following the walkout,Petocz was suspended from Flagler Palm Coast High School for handing out 200 LGBTQ+ pride flags.
Gail Newel and Mimi Khin Hall, 2021
PEN America honored the herculean yet too-often-unsung efforts of public health workers fighting a pandemic—not only of disease, but of disinformation that has posed dire challenges to our recovery. Amid threats of violence, Santa Cruz County Health Services Director Mimi Khin Hall and Health Services Officer Dr. Gail Newel stood firm in implementing evidence-based public health directives, facing down vitriol, attacks and attempted assaults. Their outspokenness about the challenges of holding firm to science in the face of denialism and denigrations helped strengthen the hands of health officials across the country in standing up to attacks on medicine, science, and sound health policy.
Marie Yovanovitch, 2020
Marie Yovanovitch, a career foreign service officer and three-time ambassador, served the U.S. with distinction throughout her tenure but was the target of a White House smear campaign that led to her abrupt dismissal as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in 2019. Though under intense pressure from a vindictive White House, Yovanovitch publicly testified to expose the corrupt machinations of Ukrainian officials and those at the highest levels of the U.S. government seeking her ouster.
Darnella Frazier, 2020
In May 2020, Darnella Frazier documented the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, one of whom—Derek Chauvin—pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck, well after Floyd lost consciousness. Frazier’s video quickly spread across social media and led to a wave of community outrage, a major investigation, and Chauvin’s arrest, as well as the dismissal of the three other officers. Floyd’s killing, along with the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Dion Johnson, and others, drove a wave of activism across the country crying out for racial and economic justice.
Anita Hill, 2019
At the 2019 PEN America Literary Gala, PEN America presented professor, lawyer, and equal rights advocate Anita Hill with the PEN Courage Award, in recognition of Hill’s singular role in challenging sexual harassment in the workplace and the attendant abuse of power. The youngest of 13 children from a farm in Oklahoma, Hill received her J.D. from Yale Law School before working at the U. S. Education Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she testified that she was sexually harassed by future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Currently, at Brandeis University, she teaches courses on gender, race, social policy, and legal history.
High School Anti-Gun Activists, 2018
The 2018 PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award was conferred to leaders in youth activism against gun violence. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Cameron Kasky and Samantha Fuentes, and Washington, D.C. high school student Zion Kelly, the twin sibling of a victim of gun violence, are among a group of young people who in mere months, catalyzed change on an issue long mired in gridlock. Through their unscripted eloquence, savvy activation of social and news media, mobilization of protests across the nation, and face-to-face debates with elected officials, these trailblazing activists translated acute personal and collective grief into a national call to action.
The Women’s March, 2017
The Women’s March, which took place in Washington, D.C., and in cities around the nation and the world on January 21, 2017, was honored with the 2017 PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award. March Co-Chair Bob Bland accepted the award on behalf of the Women’s March. More than two million people joined the Women’s March worldwide, with a staggering 1 in 100 Americans marching in solidarity for human rights, dignity, and justice.
Lee-Anne Walters and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attish, 2016
Lee-Anne Walters and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha received the PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award for exposing the lead poisoning of Flint’s water supply, calling out grave damage to public health. A mother of four, Walters faced off against local government apathy, taking months of independent research on Flint’s water supply and testing protocols directly to the EPA. Dr. Hanna-Attisha conducted a survey to find that the number of lead poisoning cases had doubled since the city’s move to a new water system, and announced her findings at a press conference during a time when the city and state continued to insist that Flint’s water was safe. Together, the actions of Walters and Hanna-Attisha are a vivid demonstration of the potency of speech in forcing truths out into the open and the centrality of citizens’ expression to a thriving democracy.
Charlie Hebdo, 2015
At the 2015 PEN Literary Gala, Paris-based satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was honored with the PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award. An attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo took the lives of eight staff cartoonists and columnists, a visiting writer, a building maintenance worker, and two policemen. The day after the attack, the surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine vowed to continue publication, releasing their next edition on time, donating all proceeds to the families of the victims. The Charlie Hebdo attacks dealt a blow to the bedrock principle that no act of expression, no matter how provocative or offensive, can justify violence.
